Texas Rangers On Colby Lewis: Team Scrambles Their Way To Finding the Perfect Replacement, Will They Recover?

Baseball team Texas Rangers is in a bit of a tight situation after their key pitcher Colby Lewis was injured last Wednesday.

The veteran baseballer will be sidelined for up to two months because of his strained lat muscle in his back, according to ESPN. This was a devastating news for the Texas Rangers, especially to Lewis who is on track to achieving the best season of his career. This year, Colby Lewis has a 6-1 record and his first loss happened last Tuesday.

Colby Lewis has been a key player for the team. During the last two seasons, he was able to pitch 204 innings and he was ranked 6th in the American League. Finding a replacement for their star player is the hardest problem for the Rangers for now.

What’s worse was that Yu Darvish has been reverted back to the disabled list. The 29-year-old Japanese star player has had a 15-day DL because of his shoulder. ESPN noted that Yu Darvish’s shoulder could be better by Saturday, but that does not mean he is ready to be throwing at any bullpen sessions anytime soon.

Colby Lewis Texas Rangers (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Though there have been reports of Darvish’s progress, “it seems that a major step forward could be on the horizon with a bullpen possibly in the offing.” Darvish might join a simulation game, but still, he will not be able to join any official matches unless he is medically cleared to go.

Moreover, another Texas Rangers player was put on a 15-day DL. Derek Holland, 29-year-old Ranger’s player just suffered a left shoulder inflammation. This might be affected by his injury back in 2015. He had shoulder issues and a nagging shoulder injury before. Holland’s absence just marks another critical loss for the Texas Rangers.

“It’s been going on for a little bit and started bothering me a little bit more in the last start so we want to make sure everything is OK,” Holland said. “I felt like I could play through it, but obviously I wasn’t doing a good job.”

Though he has been hit by consecutive injuries over the years, Holland does not expect the injury to be a major hindrance for his play in the season.

“It’s better than what it could have been. I’m glad it’s not something major. That’s definitely the bright side after what I’ve gone through,” Holland said. “It’s on my shoulder, rotator cuff…. It’s nowhere near that pain level” from last year.

Texas Rangers Manager Jeff Banister said that it was an extremely painful injury for Lewis. He said that it is rare for Lewis to come out of any game with just a simple strain because he has a very high tolerance for pain.

For Lewis, he said that he has been “in discomfort my whole career. I said something now so that it didn’t turn into an issue.”

Colby Lewis has undergone major surgeries in the elbow, hip and even his knee, but these did not keep him from being one of the top pitchers in the League.

“I haven’t had to miss time because of this. Hopefully, this is the same case.”

Lewis’ cramping began during the last few sliders of the game. Even after going through 3 innings, he was still able to pull the team up. However, by the 5th inning, he already felt the pain burn up.

“It got tighter and tighter, so I said something at that point,” Lewis said. “Even though I was giving up runs, I could have gone out there and saved the bullpen for a few more innings. I’m disappointed in that.”

With major players getting injuries, it is going to be a lot harder than when they started. Though they had a lead in the AL West, the team rotation might be messed up because of these DLs.